Genetically Modified Foods

Genetic modification of organisms is not new. For centuries humans have been mixing and matching genetic material, but within limits - among closely related species. Corn could be cross-pollinated with another kind of corn, wheat with a distinct variety of wheat…..But today's GM foods are different. They cross species barriers. Genes from a bacterium, for instance, can be spliced into a cotton plant; or genes from a fish into a tomato!

In the early '80s when scientists in the United States transferred a bacterium gene into a petunia they created the first genetically engineered '' transgenic'' plant. This paved the way for a surfeit of crops that have genes from other species inserted into them to designer specifications. As a result, today we have potatoes with a chicken gene in them that provides them with bacterial resistance. Soybeans, injected with a gene from petunias, are immune to herbicides (only the soy will survive a herbicide onslaught, where as other plants will die). Corn is treated with a bacteria gene that makes it withstand pests. Tomatoes armed with a gene from the flounder (an Arctic fish) are frost-tolerant and can grow in extreme cold. An oilseed - canola - has a gene from the California Bay tree to alter its oil composition, and so on. Proponents of these GM crops (a handful of multinational corporations including Monsanto, DuPont, Novartis and Aventis) claim that these are the answer to world hunger.

Since 1986, over 60 different crops have been engineered, with the USA having about 75% of the global area under GM crops, followed by Argentina and Canada. Already on the market in the USA are GM corn, soybeans, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, chicory, and papaya as well as milk and other dairy products from cows treated with a genetically engineered growth hormone to increase milk production. None of these foods have, reportedly, been subject to long term safety studies of the kind that go into pharmaceuticals.

Understandably, consumer response to GM crops, particularly in Europe, has been negative. The main concern is about human health. People are anxious and suspicious about the impact of ''foreign'' genes on them, and not without reason. It is known, for instance, that the use of the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone to increase the milk production in cows raises the incidence of udder infections. This requires giving cows higher doses of antibiotics, which can accelerate genetic resistance to widely used antibiotics. Worse still, there was a startling revelation by an Aberdeen-based scientist whose research showed that rats fed on GM potato displayed shrunken and damaged internal organs!

People are worried; and feel cheated when they realize that they have been eating GM food without their knowledge and consent. In Europe, GM soy is estimated to be present in about 60% of all processed food - vegetable oil, soy flour and soy protein. GM maize can be found in about 50% of processed foods - corn, cornstarch, corn flour and corn syrup. Over 90% of these are not labeled. GM foods have been dubbed ''Frankenstein foods'' and are being taken off the shelves in the UK and western Europe. The UK's largest supermarket, Tesco, has announced a policy of moving towards zero GM ingredients. European Union ministers of environment have placed a de facto moratorium on GM foods at least for a few years. Processed food companies such as Unilever UK and Nestle` have declared that they will phase out GM contents from their food products.

Clear labeling of foods containing GM material is being called for, so consumers can avoid them if they want to. And most supermarkets have increasingly expanding sections devoted to organic foods that have been growing in popularity over the years; even more so, with the panic over GMOs. Organically produced crops use no chemical fertilisers, no synthetic pesticides, and no GM seeds. It is said that the most ''certain'' way of avoiding GM food is to eat organic produce. But then, there may be genetic contamination of organic crops by GMOs through cross-pollination in farmlands! Besides, it has been found that it is difficult to source 100% GM-free ingredients for use in processed organic foods. UK-based Linda McCartney Foods, for instance, has been forced to substitute soy with wheat in its organic, vegetarian ready-meals because it seemed nigh on impossible to get away from Monsanto's GM soy.

So much for health issues. Of greater severity are the environmental ramifications of genetically engineered crops. Environmental groups are saying ''no'' to genetic manipulation of nature. ''GMOs must not be released into the environment, as the consequences for the environment are unpredictable and irreversible'' declares the international non-governmental organisation, Greenpeace. '' GMOs could radically alter the biological structure of the entire planet'' cautions the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) calling for a moratorium on the use or release of GMOs until their impact has been carefully researched and evaluated, and proper safeguards have been established. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations holds the view that GM food should only be considered as a possible answer to the problem of food security if all other options have been found wanting.

Biotechnology should be kept under strict control or it may run amok, warn experts. This is just an example of what may happen: It was reported in May this year that pollen from a corn, into which an insect-repelling toxin called Bt had been genetically engineered, killed nearly half the monarch butterfly caterpillars fed on it (and stunned the rest) in a test conducted in Cornell University. Just suppose that these kind of insect killing (or insecticide producing) GM crops were widely grown. Cross-pollination (by wind and those insects immune to the genetically engineered toxin) could transfer the same traits to other plants…and these other plants may even be weeds or weedy relatives of the GM crop!

Activists campaigning against genetically modified foods before the Houses of Parliament in London with a three-foot ice cube containing 'mutated' fish

So now we have weeds with ''foreign'' genes in them, constantly churning out their own toxin; developing into super-weeds defying pests, diseases and, what is more, resisting even weed killers (herbicides). For, the GM crop is meant to resist herbicides so that when these are sprayed, all the weeds around them die, allowing just the crop to flourish. Now the weeds themselves have acquired this characteristic. Besides, insecticide-producing genes on the rampage could eliminate any number of insect species, the birds that feed on them and grazing animals that subsist on plants suppressed by the super-weeds. Once on the loose, GMOs, unlike defective machinery, cannot be called back!

Among the most serious long-term effects of the extensive use of GMOs is further reduction and alteration of global genetic diversity and, therefore, biodiversity. This is the foundation on which our lives and economies themselves depend - for food, wood, fibres, energy, raw materials, industrial chemicals and medicines. Already the world's 20 major food crops have become 70% less genetically diverse because a wide range of wild strains have been replaced with only a few varieties developed by crossbreeding. Using bio-engineered crop strains would intensify this loss of vital biodiversity.

Between 1996 and 1998 the global area devoted to GM crops has increased fifteenfold - from two million to 28 million hectares. Most is under soybeans followed by corn, cotton and canola. European consumers don't want GM foods. American consumers either don't know about them or don't care. Owners of the gene technology, the conglomerates that call themselves ''life science companies'' want a stranglehold on world farmers and farming systems - crops, seeds, herbicides, insecticides, and even the plant development processes themselves including germination, flowering, and fruit ripening; season after season.

The WWF is justified in demanding that the implications of GMOs for the food chain and the natural environment be openly communicated to the public so that informed choices can be made. Nor should control of gene technology be left to scientists and commercial organisations. There is a call for official regulation through independent statutory bodies that have the power to ban future GMO releases until agreed standards have been met.

WHAT ON EARTH CAN WE DO? We can landscape areas not used for gardening with a mix of wildflowers, herbs, low-growing ground cover, small bushes, and other forms of vegetation natural to our area. These would help preserve biodiversity and protect the soil. Some herbs help repel insect pests.

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